Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-08
FREEZING PASSENGERS.
HOW A MONTANA STAGE DRIVER
SAVED THEIR LIVES.

known In this section. The storms have beer
Of long duration and Of great severity, and
the cold has been extreme. Sandy Fellows
me Of the drivers on the Helena route, who
| had a deperate time in getting through the
| other day, and was laid up at Helena for q
time, has returned here, and tells how he
| managed to get his passengers out Of the
blizzard without loss.
"In his busiest days." he says, "John Sulli.
van never did the smuggling in forty-eight
hours that did. If it wasn't for these tender
|. fingers, which were frozen a little, wouldn't
be much afraid to tackle him myself / find
| that have worked up a muscle that is some
thing terrific, and all as q result Of that trip,
too. When we set out for Helena / had on
beard five men and one woman. One Of the
men was q discharged soldier, another was a
cowboy and the others were prospsctors, /
guess For awhile the weather wasn't bad,
but pretty soon it began to grow cold, and
the wind was so high that the flying snow be-
came almost binding.
ALL WENT TO SLEEP.
after had been driving along for a while
became conscious that the weather was get
ting more and more severe 1t was taking
hold of me, and knew when weather began
to shrink me up with all the stuff had on it
might be going hard with the crowd inside
So l concluded to get down and look in.
Great Christopher, young man, every one of
them, except the woman, was asleep, and she
looked kind Of drowsy. Well, you ought to
have seen me hunt them out Of that. took
one at time, and, as I whirled him around,
lifted him one under the ear and gave him
another one in the jaw Pretty soon had
them all out in the snow. except the woman,
and she was practically stiff. What to do
with her didn't know. At first tried to
coax her out, but she 'shooed' me Off Then
l appealed to the men to help me get her out,
but they were still too sleepy and stupid.
Then l got mad and says: You've got to
como ol;t q Fiat, my fine lady, and gave
her q yG3.'. Il put little life into her. By
that time c5mboy had kinder got his grip,
and he cs IS ine intending to lick me.
knew / r'oIlt; lave to stand that sort of a
racket, because l had been there before; but
he was a iigtie sitter than was, and, after
had given him few more wipes across the
ear, he became moro reasonable Just as he
was picking himself up, told him why was
bruising him, and that if he wanted to lick
anybody he would have an elegant opportu-
nifty by helping me wake up the other fell
lows. That seemed to strike him favorably,
and We went at the men, occasionally giving
the woman q run.
81 fairly wore myself out On that soldier.
He was tough The more I hammered the
stupider he got, until finally gave him one
in the mouth that made him see stars. By
this time the other men had been pretty well
aroused. and leaving the soldier to the cow
boy, who asked the privilege Of FASTING him
a few times, turned my attention to the
woman She was crying, and did not seem
to know just where she was or what allied us
spoke to her kindly, and tried to explain,
but it WINS no use. She was as far gone Is
she well could be. took hold of her and ran
her back and forth, half carrying her, until l
got tired, and then made the men that we
had walked up do the same thing, SO as to put
their blood in circulation. She seemed to i'm
prove a little under the treatment and we
kept it up until came to the conclusion that
she must be wide enough awake to go on for
a ways. Telling the men to keep a sharp
lookout on her, and to be careful themselves
how they let drowsiness get the better Of
them, l got on tho box and drove on.
POUNDING THE PASSENGERS.
Il had an idea that was then somewhere
near Twenty-eight-mile station, and l knew
that must reach that place before dark IN
less wanted to drive In with load of dead
folks. So I whipped up the horses-they
were stiff enough too, by this time-and we
got over considerable ground. The wind had
gone down some and it was easier to see the
country. l was having great faith in my
ability to reach the station when l heard tie
cowboy yelling that must stop. The soldier
had fallen asleep again. got down and
-pI IA I = fha
cowboy asked under his breath if he could
polish him or. l told him to so in, and tho
way that he did it was a caution. AS l saw
him nsauling the chap l came to the conclu-
sion that lie might have grudge against him,
and so ! stopped him, after intin,ating IS
much. The cowboy gasped for breath few
times and said: i never had nothing against
this particular soldier, but he'll do, in the alb
senc. of any Others. After that I attended
TO the pounding myself, and l had plenty OF
it, too. The cowboy got drowsy once, and
took some satisfaction in humping him
around. 1t one point on the road / Tad to
get them all out again, and the time had
with the woman was a caution. As soon as
we could get her out OF the stage she would
declare that she was all right but we wouldn't
cny moro than ge. started before she would
wake her up in way that would last for
while.
"Gctting her out and running her up and
down in the snow beside the stage, kept at
her until she fairly screamed that she was
awake and that was killing her Then ]
told al. the men TO get into the coach, and
after they were seated let go of her quick.
and, jumping on the boz, gave the horses
the lash and away we Went, leaving her be-
hind. The scheme worked as had hoped it
would. The first impulse of horror over, she
started after Us. screaming q. the top OF her
voice. looked around once, just enough to
make sure that she was following, and then
gave the team full headway and kept her
chasing for about {. mile Then l hauled up
and went back after her When / met her
she YVES as wide awake any woman that
you ever saw. Her cheeks were flaming and
her eyes looked daggers at me. Fortunately, |
she could not get her breath we'll enough to |
jaw me, but the men say that after she had !
quoted down some in the coach she gave |
them her opinion of me IL a way that would |
have done me good to hear. That little chase |
saved her life though. Two hours later | |
saw the station in the distance, and IL littls |
while we drew up there with nobody dead |
and TO ono frozen excep: myself, and that |
didn't amount to much When the crowd |
got thawed out they found that they lad |
some mysterious bruises on their heads and |
faces and one OF the proSTectors sad he felt |
Gs though lie had been pounded The soldier /
said he knew he had been, because one OF his |
teeth was gone and he had as beautiful a /
pair OF black eyes as you ever saw. / guess /
they never suspected he, but the woman told |
ME wien she lett that she would tell her hes /
band. a miner down st Anaconda, about me,
a - = -,